Swift's Ability to Detect Gamma-Ray Bursts

Abstract

The Swift satellite will be a self-contained observatory that will bring new capabilities to the observing of the early afterglow emission of Gamma-ray Bursts. Swift is completely autonomous and will do all of the observations without help from the ground. There are three instruments on Swift. A large (5200 sq cm) coded aperture imager will locate the bursts within about 15 seconds. The satellite will be able to slew to point at the location within a minute or two. There are two narrow field of view instruments: an optical telescope and an x-ray telescope. Thus, Swift will provide simultaneous gamma-ray, x-ray, and optical observations of Gamma-ray bursts soon after the burst. A key to the success of Swift will be its ability to detect and locate a large number of gamma-ray bursts quick enough that the narrow field of view instruments can follow up. The results of simulations show that Swift will be able to detect about 300 bursts a year and locate about 150. The number that Swift will be able to slew to depends on constraints built into the satellite bus. Preliminary results indicate that we might be able to slew to 100 bursts per year, but that is heavily dependent on satellite operations.